Saturday, September 29, 2007

Tender Out Next Month For RM3.8 Bln Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer Project

post by Susanne Chi

Bernama, August 29th, 2007 KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Bernama) -- The Energy Water and Communications Ministry will open the tender for the RM3.8 billion worth Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project by next month. It will be an international tender exercise.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the pre-qualification exercise has already been completed and the ministry was determined to carry out a proper tender exercise.

A proper tender will be probably be out in a month's time, he said, adding that the whole exercise was expected to take about two to three months to finish.

Lim was speaking to reporters after delivering a keynote address at the Fourth National Utilities Summit 2007, here Tuesday.

The Pahang-Selangor water project will involve the construction of the Kelau Dam and a 44.6 km long water transfer tunnel bored through Titiwangsa Range to transport water from Pahang river to Selangor.

Work is expected to commence early next year while completion will be in five years.

Dr Lim said the project would enable the government to supply alternative water sources such as underground water.

He said that a proper tender exercise for the project, estimated at RM3.8 billion could be reduced to RM3 billion.

On the project's infrastructure, he said the ministry has decided to award the construction of a water treatment plant namely `Langat 2' to Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB).

He said the award was timely and KDEB was a suitable candidate as it has been helping the ministry in preparing the infrastructure for the project.

The infrastructure works will cost about RM2 billion.

The water treatment plant under Langat 2 will have a capacity of 2,180 million litres per day and a network of pipes to distribute the treated water.